Car-end construction.



C. 0. BIRNEY.

cm END conssrnuonon. APPLICATION FILED AUG. 28, 1908.

Patented Dec.29,1908. W Z 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

0, 0. BIRNEY.

-CAR END GONSTRUGTION. APPLICATION FILED AUG. 28, 1908.

998, 1 99. Patented Dec. 29, 1908.

I a 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2. /g /i 4 g w Z9 9 j? j r- 1 7 III/1,1574% CHARLES o; B'IRNEY, or srrouis, Mrssouar.

GAB-END CONSTRUCTION.

Specification otLetters Patent.

fatented Dec. 29, 1908.

' Application fi1ed'August28, 1908. Serial No. 450,638.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES O. BIRNEY,

a citizen of the United States, and resident of St. Louis, Missouri, have lnvented certain new and usefulImprovements in Car-End (Tonstruction, of which the followingis a specification containing a full, clear, and exact description, reference beinghad to the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof.

Myinventionrelates generally to passenger cars, and more particularly to the construction ofthe ends of such carsand the doors therein, my object being to construct an extra wide door opening in the end of the car, and to provide a series of sliding doors for said opening, and which sliding doorsiare. so arranged as that separate entrance and exit opemngs may be formed adjacent the sides of the car, or a single wide,

entrance .or exit may be formed on either side of the door-opening, which arrange mentisespecially advantageous on passenger cars utilizingthe pay-on-platform prin- To the above purposes, my invention .consists in certain novelfeatures of construction and arrangement of parts, which will be hereinaftermore fully set forth, pointed out in the claims, and illustratedin the accompanying drawings, in .which Figure 1 is a cross section taken through the body of a car constructed in accordancewith my invention, and looking toward the door opening in the end of said car, and with the sliding doors in the car end shown in closed positions; Fig. 2 is a horizontal section taken on the line 22 of Fig. 1 ,Fig. 8 is a horizontal section through a car end of my improved construction, and showing the sliding. doors moved tothe center of the door opening to form separate entrance and exit openings; Fig. 4 is a horizontal section taken through a car end of my improved construction, and showing all of the doors moved to one side of the door opening to form a single wide entrance opening; Fig. 5 is a horizontal section similar to Fig; 4, and showing the sliding doors moved to one side of the door opening so as to form a single wide exit opening; Fig. 6 is a horizontal section similar to Figs. 4 and 5, and showing. the doors shifted into such positions as to form 'a single entrance and exit at the center of the door opening; Fig. 7 is an enlarged vertical section taken on the line 7-7 of Fig. 1, and

showing the wheeled hangers which carry the sliding doors.

Referring by numerals to the accompanying drawings z-1 designates the car body, in the end-of which is formed an extra wide door opening: and arranged on the car floor, between the door posts, is a threshold 2 in 'which is formed three grooves, 3, i, and 5.

6. designates a'sliding door which is in width approximately one-thirdthe width of the door opening: and the lower end of this door is arranged to slide in the groove 1, and the upper end of said door is provid d with a pair of grooved wheels, such as 7, which operate on a track rail 8 located in the head of the door frame. .This door-6 occupies a. position at the center of the door opening when said door opening is closed. Fixedto the inside face of the door 6, at the enter thereof, is a handle 9, by meansof which said door is shifted from one position to another.

10 designates a sliding door which isof the same width as is the door 6 and the bottom of said door 10 is arranged to slide in the groove 4, and the upper end thereof is provided with a hanger 11, which carries grooved wheels, such as 12, and which travel on a track rail 13 arranged in the head of the door frame adjacent the rail 8. This door 10 is adapted to normally close the entrance opening between one of the door posts and one side of the door 6; and fixed onbothsides of said doorlO, adjacent the edge which closes against the door post, are handles 14, by means of which said door is shifted.

A sliding door 15, similar in construction to the doors 6 and 10, has its lower end arranged to slide in the groove 5, and the upper end of said door is provided with a hanger 16 carrying grooved rollers, such as 17, which operate on a track rail 18 located in the head of the door frame, adjacent the rails 8 and 13. This door 15 normally closes the exit passageway between one of the corner posts of the car and one side of the cento limit the movement of the door 10 relative to said door 6; andsaid strip also acts as a filler for the space betweenthe edges of thedoors 6 and 15 when the same'are closed.

When the doors are arranged to close the door opening in the end of the car, they occupy the positions seen in Fig. 2; and when it is desired to provide separate entrance and exit openings, the doors 10'and 15 are moved toward one another until they occupy positions immediately in front of the center door 6, and thus narrow entrance and exit openings are formed between the cent-er door and the door posts. The doors 10 and 1.5 are readily shifted by manually engaging the handles 14 and 19; and during the movement of said doors, the wheels 12 and 17 ride freely upon the tracks 13 and 1S. and the lower ends of said doors slide througlrthe grooves i and 5. I

Vhen it is desired to provide an extra wide entrance, the doors 6 and 10 are shifted to one side so as to occupy positions immediately to the rear of the door 15, (as shown in Fig. 4,) or to provide an extra wide exit openin the doors 6 and 15 are shifted so as to occupy positions on both sides of and immediately adjacent the door 10, (as seen in Fig. 5.)

When it is desired to form a single entrance and exit atthe center of the door opening, the center door (5 is shifted so as to occupy a position immediately to the rear of'the door 15, (as seen in Fig. 6;) or said door 6 may be shifted to the opposite side of the door opening so as to occupy a position immediately to the'rear of the door 10.

By my improved. construction, separate entrance and exit openings are readily provided, as desired,fin the end of the car to combine with the-f barriers and gates ordinarily made use o f on'the platform's of cars utilizing the pay-on-platforni principle; and the sliding doors are readily shifted,

m from one position to another, and can easily and quickly be brought into position to close the entire door openlng in the car end.

I clain 1. The combination with a car having a door opening in its end, of three doors normally closing the opening, and all of which tions from one side of the door opening to the other, and guides for the upper and lower ends of said doors;

3. The combination with a on having a door opening in its end, of three doors of equal width, which doors normally 0105 the opening inthe end of the car, and bei arranged to slide freely in both directions from one side of said door opening to the other. c

4. A car having a door opening and three doors arranged to slide freely from one side of the door opening to the other, in order to form entrance and .exit openings at either side of the car at the center of the door opening.

5. 'A car having a door opening in its end, and a plurality of doors arranged to slide freely from one side of the door opening to the other, which doors are adapted to be shifted so as to form a narrow entrance and exit opening at the center of the door openmg. p

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

- CHARLES O. BIRNEY. \Vitnesses M. P. SMITH, E. L. WALLACE. 

